Mr. Kennedy has recently recalled being Eddie Guerrero’s final opponent and how his match with Latino Heat went down.
On November 13th, 2005, the wrestling world lost a legend in Eddie Guerrero. He was one of the WWE’s top talents and was an incredible performer who loved performing for the fans. Eddie would lie, cheat, and steal to pickup victories over his opponents, but that is what made him one of a kind.
Whether he was playing as a heel or a babyface, he knew how to entertain the audience. In 2004, Eddie was able to beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship and he successfully defended it against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 20.
Some of Eddie’s final storylines took place with the likes of Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Batista. The Animal defeated Guerrero in what would be his final PPV match at No Mercy 2005 to regain the World Heavyweight Championship.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Mr. Kennedy spoke about being Eddie’s final opponent and the waves of sadness that were felt in the arena once the news was broken. The match took place on November 11th, 2005 on an episode of SmackDown, just two days before Guerrero’s unexpected death.
“I remember him telling me to calm down in the beginning, there was some, we did some chain wrestling. I remember I was scrambling to get to the ropes quickly to break. And I remember him telling me like, just calm down, like, you don’t have to go so quickly there. And then I remember, we were talking through the match, I’m supposed to hit him with the chair at the end, and I remember he’s like ‘Bring it. Hit me with it.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna hit you with it.’ And then I hit him with it. And we got backstage and he was like ‘Maybe a little too much.’
But then we went out to dinner that night, I was riding, I was actually riding with him and Benoit at the time, and we went to a steakhouse. And I remember they were talking because the next week after, it was like a super show in Minneapolis. It was Raw and SmackDown, I’m not sure if ECW was around at the time yet. But it was going to be a Raw SmackDown Super Show and then we were heading to the airport, we were going to fly out and doing my first international tour.
They were like, you know, you’re gonna get [pranked] they’re gonna mess with you. They’re gonna shave your eyebrows while you’re sleeping. You know, stuff like that, get me all riled up. And then I remember, I pulled into the arena. And the guy that parks the cars that helps park all the vehicles told me, he’s like Eddie died. And I walked into the building. And it was just like this crazy, sick feeling that everybody had all day. Everybody was super sombre and sad It was, it was a crazy, crazy day.”
Eddie would win the match by DQ after faking being hit with a chair by Kennedy. The full match is available to watch on the WWE’s YouTube channel.
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